South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office by the Constitutional Court on Friday after it upheld Parliament’s decision to impeach him for imposing martial law last year, triggering the worst political crisis in the country in decades.
The decision concludes months of political unrest that have overshadowed interactions with the new U.S. administration under President Donald Trump, during a period of economic slowdown in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Following Yoon’s removal, the constitution mandates that a presidential election must be held within 60 days.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will remain as acting president until a new president takes office.
“The Constitutional Court’s unanimous ruling has removed a major source of uncertainty,” said Professor Leif-Eric Easley from Ewha University in Seoul.
He added, “And not a moment too soon, given how the next administration in Seoul must navigate North Korea’s military threats, China’s diplomatic pressure, and Trump’s trade tariffs.”
Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae noted that Yoon breached his presidential duties with the martial law declaration on December 3, exceeding his constitutional authority and posing a serious threat to democracy.
“(Yoon) committed a grave betrayal of the people’s trust who are the sovereign members of the democratic republic,” Moon said, noting that Yoon’s declaration of martial law wreaked havoc across societal, economic, and foreign policy realms.
At a rally advocating for Yoon’s removal, where hundreds had stayed overnight, attendees burst into celebratory cheers when the decision was announced, chanting, “We won!”
Conversely, Yoon’s supporters near his official residence expressed their dissatisfaction; one individual was detained for vandalizing a police vehicle, as reported by the Yonhap news agency.
Despite the court’s ruling, the South Korean won remained stable, slightly up by about 1% against the dollar, trading at 1,436.6 per dollar by 0249 GMT.
The main stock index, KOSPI, dropped by 0.7%, which was anticipated as the market expected the impeachment to be upheld.
The court dismissed most of Yoon’s claims that his martial law declaration was a necessary alert about the opposition party’s misuse of its parliamentary majority, indicating that other legal measures were available for resolving such conflicts.
According to Moon, the decree for martial law was unjustified and procedurally flawed.
He further condemned the mobilization of the military against parliament as a serious violation of Yoon’s duty to protect the independence of the government’s three branches.
Following the court’s verdict, the acting leader of Yoon’s People Power Party, Kwon Young-se, apologized to the public, accepting the decision and committing to cooperate with the acting president to stabilize the nation.
Acting President Han Duck-soo, in his statement post-ruling, assured efforts to manage a smooth and peaceful presidential election.
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok is slated to hold an emergency meeting with the governor of the Bank of Korea and other financial regulators.
Yoon, 64, now faces a criminal trial on charges of insurrection related to the martial law declaration.
Yoon, who was the first sitting president in South Korea to be arrested on January 15, was released in March after his arrest warrant was annulled by the court.
The crisis originated from Yoon’s martial law decree, which he defended as necessary to eliminate “anti-state” elements and curb the alleged parliamentary abuses by the opposition Democratic Party.
Yoon rescinded the decree six hours later, following a dramatic confrontation where parliamentary staff resisted special operations forces using barricades and fire extinguishers, and lawmakers rejected the martial law proposal.
Yoon has maintained that he never intended to fully enforce emergency military rule and downplayed the severity of the events, claiming no injuries occurred.
